


The Most Distracting Group Video Chat Award goes to...

by wrenzi



Series: Quarantine series [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Avengers Family, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Fun, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Quarantine, Slow Build, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, group video chat, silly virtual shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24647515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrenzi/pseuds/wrenzi
Summary: Wherein the Avengers team are all quarantined in separate locations following an alien encounter. Part 1 featuring: Virtual group video chat shenanigans."Tony, you made all of this for us?" Cap voiced his genuine surprise.His words were met with a brief pause before Tony's Iron Man helmet tilted to the left. "Certified 100% Stark proprietary software, Cap, made just for the team and by your's truly. Very secure, and fun for all ages."
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Series: Quarantine series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782040
Kudos: 50





	The Most Distracting Group Video Chat Award goes to...

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I needed a light-hearted little pick-me-up during covid-19 quarantine. Set in a universe where Thanos doesn't exist and all the Avengers are used to living in the same tower. Clint still has his MCU family, and the Avengers know about them. Like I said, this is a happy, sappy, somewhat silly story, don't take it all too seriously in the grand canon timeline of things - Enjoy!
> 
> Marvel Avengers and all characters within do not belong to me. This is a work of fiction. Not Beta'd.

One month, that's what Fury said. One month of quarantine and they would be deemed safe enough to be allowed back outside in public. Tony blamed the jellyfish looking alien blob. And the nauseating ink spittle the thing spewed out over them and half of Central Park before it died. Better safe than sorry, Fury had said afterwards as the doctors recommended isolation.

Then all of them started to sprout green spots on their skin and one month had become three months after treatment, which turned into six months instead of three after the green spots returned for round two. Prolonged isolation is necessary as we don't yet know how infectious this is, the doctors had said afterwards.

So yes, Tony blamed the alien.

It was now day 37, and Tony had already finished the side-projects, the side side-projects, and the periphery projects that were just notes on napkins before this whole party began. All of which meant he now had time to work on the offshoot projects he thought of while he'd been working on all the other side projects. It was a neverending cycle, accelerated by the fact that he had cut out most of the travel time and everything he needed for work was accessible to him.

Meetings were all online, food was delivered to him, bed and bathroom were just down the hall, he could stick his head outside in the rooftop garden Pepper started for his dose of outdoorsy-ness. And he could now work everywhere, and anytime, including during meetings (though Pepper disapproved of that). Besides that, not being able to physically see anyone else, and the fact that everything going in and out of his place had to be decontaminated first, nothing else had drastically changed. Tony couldn't decide whether this quarantine business was a curse or a blessing. A Curblessing, he decided in the end.

"Captain's log: day 289. Finished up that reactor schematic, waiting for the prototype enclosures to finish printing. Yay to another check off the list of 'things-I-never-thought-I'd-get-around-to-before-I-got-stuck-in-quarantine'," Tony recorded aloud, leaning back with a little stretch to watch the 3D printers start up. "J.A.R.V.I.S., let me know when those prints are done, sanded and coated, I want a test fitting right after."

"Of course, sir," The polite overhead voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, "May I remind you that you have a group video meetup with the Avengers in 10 minutes as well."

"10 minutes, already?" Tony startled, bouncing off his chair to head towards another monitor, "Thanks, J - what would I do without you?"

"One can only dare to guess," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied steadily, which prompted a quirk of a smile on Tony's face as he opened up the group chat.

Clint was already in the call, switching his virtual backgrounds from one pop culture reference to another in rapid succession with amusement.

"Hey Stark! You know, I had my doubts in the beginning, but this 'secure Stark branded Avengers team video chat' thing you made for us is not as dry as Fury made it sound," He commented, dragging a virtual 3D monocle and top hat onto his face for the face recognition software to catch. "So many toys!"

"Made them with you in mind, Birdy," Tony flashed a grin and blinked his eyes dramatically, "Let's take her for a spin, shall we?"

"Oh, hell yes, enlighten me on all the secrets," Clint said while rubbing his hands together.

When Natasha joined the call 10 minutes later, Clint was trying to color filter his skin into every imagineable color while sporting a little dancing Ironette model on his head, and Tony had gifs of cats falling out of his mouth everytime he talked while wearing a virtual Captain America mask that sparked fireworks around his head. Both of them had ridiculous videos playing as their virtual backgrounds and emojis flying around everywhere, as if they were in the process of trying one of each ridiculous feature Tony had put in there.

"Cap says he's finishing up a call with Fury and that he'll be here hopefully soon," Natasha said before pausing, a serene smile gracing her face that belied the amusement underneath. "What am I even looking at right now?"

"Nat! Welcome," Clint replied, pausing in his color-searching to wave hello. "Did you see all the cool things Tony put into this?"

"Oh, I'm seeing it," Natasha chuckled, eyes flicking around her screen for a brief moment before her head suddenly was replaced by an Iron Man helmet.

"Hey!" Tony called out, indignant, "You can't be Iron Man when the real Iron Man's here."

"I see no names displayed, and thus no indication in the chat that you're the real Iron Man," Natasha countered, a sense of a smile behind her words.

"Fine, if you're playing that game, I'll just turn the username displays back on," Tony said, moving his cursor to do so. A second later, everyone's names popped up underneath their video frames.

Natasha stilled for a moment, and then her display name changed to "Tony Stark" to mimic Tony's.

"Ooh, where did you find that, Nat?" Clint said, head bobbing in closer to the screen as if he were looking for something. A second or so later, Clint's head was replaced by an Iron Man helmet as well, and his name changed to "The Real Tony Stark".

"Is this how you repay my kindness," Tony balked, though the effect was somewhat lost on the silly fireworks sprouting around his Captain America mask. "Fine, you know what, I can be me too." Tony's head immediately also became replaced by the Iron Man's helmet.

He changed his display name to "The ACTUAL Tony Stark" too, for good measure.

Bruce and Thor chose this moment to join in shortly after each other. Both of whom remained frozen for a moment as they witnessed all the Iron Man helmets, and other colorful additions, on their screens.

"…Tony?" Bruce asked hesitantly, eyes darting from one screen to the next, not knowing which one was Tony at first glance from the mess of effects and virtual items floating about obscuring their settings.

Thor seemed to be speaking in his frame, but no one could hear him.

"Hey Bruce! Point Break, you're muted," Tony greeted with a little wave to call attention to his video frame. "Click the volume button like I taught you last time, the triangle looking icon."

Thor's eyebrows furrowed, and his lips seemed to form the word, 'muted'. The Asgardian leaned into his screen, eyes scanning for something, before a look of triumph lit up his face. Thor's mouth moved again, presumably to ask if they could hear him now, but his video feed was still silent.

"Nope, still muted," Clint replied this time, adding two more dancing Ironette models onto his helmeted head.

Bruce found the color changer and started turning his skin green.

"HOW ABOUT NOW?" Thor's voice in a supremely loud setting suddenly throttled through, causing everyone in the call to cry out with alarm, and Bruce to accidentally send the slider flying all the way to bright purple.

"Woah! Too loud too loud - Turn it down-" Tony cried while covering his ears, which were already covered by the virtual Iron Man helmet.

"APOLOGIES, I WILL TURN DOWN THE VOLUME NOW."

"Yes, yes, please do-"

"Is this better, friends?" Thor's voice asked in a more reasonable volume, though the man still seemed to project a loud voice regardless of the volume setting.

"Much better," Clint chimed in excitedly while sending happy face emojis cascading down his screen, "Thor, Bruce, welcome to the party!"

A purple skinned Bruce waved hello from his frame as Thor spread his arms wide.

"Thank you!" Thor thundered, "How do I see your faces? I see many Iron Man helmets and a very purple Bruce."

"Oh, we're all just wearing these virtual heads for fun," Clint clicked his helmet off to show Thor it was him, before placing the Helmet back on again.

"These are just some of the fun things you can do on here," Clint explained, before launching into a rambling introduction of the many bits and bobs - both useful and not - he had tried out, using his screen as an example canvas while he explained. By the end of it all, Thor had himself donned the Iron Man helmet as well and was in the process of adding lightning bolts to his virtual background. His display name switched to "GOD OF THUNDER".

It was then that Steve's video joined the gallery, "Sorry, I got held up in--.."

A furrow deepened momentarily between his eyebrows as Steve's eyes swept over the chaos, before a huff and smile escaped his lips. "… a call. Well then. I was not expecting to see four Iron Man clones and a purple Hulk when I logged in," Steve said, raising an eyebrow.

"Cap! I'm offended you'd think I'm a clone as well," Tony huffed from his video, shaking his head, still masked by the helmet, "The real Iron Man is here too, you know."

"Is that right," Steve mused, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards as his eyes glanced around the screen, as if debating which one was the 'real' Iron Man. While they lingered in a specific spot for a while, a little grin growing on his face, Steve casually slid his gaze to another spot on the screen, giving an overemphasized nod and exaggerated serious face. "Clearly must be the one with the three Ironette models dancing on his head."

Clint let out a whoop and raised both his arms. "Cap says I'm the real one! Hear that, Tony?"

"What!" Tony raised his arms as well, albeit in exasperation, "Cap, now I'm doubly offended. You can't tell us apart?"

"Indeed, I am clearly the true Iron Man here," Thor interjected, raising his arms now too, in a shower of virtual money amidst lightning bolts. "Behold, my riches and electrifying personality!"

"Traitors, all of you," Tony balked, "I've given you tools of my own destruction. Should never have made this at all, if I knew you were all going to undermine me like this. Maybe I'll just take it all back."

A loud gasp came from Clint's screen, supported by Clint's body leaning back with arms in front, as if bracing himself. "Tony, no! Don't take it back, I love it!" The archer quickly amended, switching off the Iron Man helmet. "Stark Chat, TM, is the greatest. And the fact that you made all of this for just us is awesome, please don't take it from meeee."

While the others gave good-natured laughs, Steve had his gaze back on the spot he had lingered on before, this time with a quiet smile on his face. At the comment about making "all of this" for them, his eyebrows jumped up a bit.

"Tony, you made all of this for us?" Cap voiced his genuine surprise.

His words were met with a brief pause before Tony's Iron Man helmet tilted to the left. "Certified 100% Stark proprietary software, Cap, made just for the team and by your's truly. Very secure, and fun for all ages."

Before Tony could continue, Clint once again launched into an excited mini lecture to Steve of all the cool things the software could do, showing each feature on his screen as an example. By the time Clint finished giving an overview of everything you could do in the program, Steve had adopted an awed expression, mouth partially open as he explored the features himself.

"Collaborative screen sharing, meeting recordings with notes for each session, forum-style chat features… and all the virtual items we could ask for, and more. Useful and fun. Tony, this is wonderful, thank you," Steve commented, though the sincere nature of it seemed to be at odds with the fact that Steve's background now featured a video of wobbly puppies running across a grassy field.

"Eh, well. I had the time, so," Tony's Ironman head bobbled as he spoke, hands gesturing a spiral. "Wait till you see this in action using holographics - I'll send out your display units tonight. We needed something like this for a while, and since I now had so much more time on my hands, here we are! It makes the meetings more interesting at least."

"It sure does," Steve chuckled, followed by loud agreements by Clint and Thor and quieter affirmations from Natasha and a still purple-skinned Bruce. Tony felt the corners of his mouth quiver a bit as they stretched into a wider smile, hidden as it was beneath the Iron Man helmet.

"Wait, did I hear right in that you're sending us holographic display units?" Clint dramatically proclaimed with a hand clutched over his heart, "Stark, please stop, my heart can't take so much excitement at one time."

"Indeed, this is exciting news!" Thor interjected, abandoning his Iron Man helmet for a virtual set of aviator sunglasses. "I look forward to seeing your floating heads above my hearth during our meetings."

"Speaking of meetings," Natasha spoke up, the Iron Man helmet now gone from her face as well as she leaned in, "How'd the call with Fury go, Steve?"

And with that subtle nudge, the conversation smoothly steered towards Avengers business. Which comprised of mostly checking in on everyone, along with updates from Fury's call with Steve and how the S.H.I.E.L.D med teams were progressing on a cure for their conditions. Inevitably, however, and perhaps aided by the new tools that Tony had provided them, the team found that their conversations roamed through side paths just as often as the main road.

"Homemade sourdough bread, really?" Clint, the Ironette Dancers still on his head, looked perplexed at the piece of bread Bruce, also still purple skinned, was holding up.

"Had the time," Bruce responded with a small smile before taking another bite. "I can send Laura the recipe if you'd like."

"Oh, can you send me a copy too?" Natasha piped in.

"What, are we all bakers now?" Clint's confusion deepened as he rubbed his forehead.

"You're stuck on that? I can't believe we just glossed over the fact that Thor named his new puppy 'Captain Rogers'," Tony called out, exasperated. He waved an open palm towards Thor's screen, in which the God of Thunder was happily cradling a small golden retriever pup in his significantly larger arms.

"The little one was named Jolly Rogers previously, and he is similar in color to our fair Captain - thus, the name," Thor nodded sagely, "Aye, in a few months, Captain Rogers will be the most formidable beast in all the Nine Realms, as his namessake might fortell!"

Steve ducked his head slightly at that, an amused, albeit somewhat conflicted, expression on his face. "Thank you, I will take that as a compliment."

Save for the small offshoot topics, their meeting ran just about expected. There were a couple of audio, video and interface hiccups that Tony made hotfixes for while the others were talking, but besides technical difficulties, Stark's video chat software seemed to do well in today's performance test. Tony was striking some bugs off the previous alpha and beta test lists when he suddenly heard his name in a question.

"Tony?" Steve's voice cut through his side-tracked mind.

"Hm?" Tony looked up, eyes scanning the rest of the faces for clues on what the topic was. "Yes, I know how the final season of Great House Flipper Kings ends."

Clint gave a gasp, full body reeling back from the camera. "You temptress - that show's been my life for the past few weeks and that season's not even out yet, how did you see--"

"Sorry," Tony interrupted with a grin, "What was the actual question?"

While Clint seemed to be opening and closing his mouth in a state of flabbergast, Steve chuckled and obligingly repeated the question. "I was asking if you could stay afterwards for a bit? I need some help setting up the video chat app on my phone."

"Sure thing, Cap," Tony replied with a nod, staunchly ignoring the giddy feeling that bubbled up inside his chest.

"Stark, Tony, you, sir," Clint stuttered, having seemed to have finally gotten words out of his mouth, "You think you can just ignore me-- We aren't done here! You and I, we'll be having words, you and I, all the words. Don't ignore me!"

"Repeating yourself there, buddy," Tony turned towards Clint's screen, a warm hint of amusement underlying his casual tone, "I'll see what the Director can reveal to you next time he texts me."

"You're the best. The best, you hear? No one's greater, you're the greatest of all time," Clint rushed through the words fervently, a big smile on his face as he clapped his hands together.

In the bout of laughter that ensued, Steve spoke up again. "Though in all seriousness, thank you again, Tony. This is leagues better than the software S.H.I.E.L.D. had given us, and I'm glad we have our own private channels now."

Tony waved a hand dismissively in front of him as the other Avengers chimed in their thanks as well. A pleasant wash of warmth swept through him even as he shook his head. "It was no trouble at all. Glad to see it all worked out. Though, since I made it with everyone here in mind, guess I shouldn't be surprised," he himself gave a little chuckle.

"It very much did work out," Purple-skinned Bruce affirmed with a smile.

The meeting ended not long after that, having exhausted all the meeting's formal topics and edged into time-slots for other social calls or business. And after everyone's parting remarks as the meeting adjourned, Tony found himself face to face with just Steve in the video chat.

"Quiet now, huh," Tony remarked.

"Quite," Steve chuckled, "Feels like a smaller space."

A smaller space. A more intimate setting even. Or maybe Tony felt this because certain feelings made the space feel more… personal.

"Alright, Cap, let's get this set up on your phone," Tony began, diverting away from small talk. He couldn't help but feel a little cowardly at that, but at least he wouldn't be wasting Steve's time.

"Leave the software running on your laptop and open the app up on your phone," Tony instructed, leaning back to stretch his arms for a moment to give Cap a moment to comply.

As Steve turned his head to presumably face his phone, Tony took the moment to clear away some of the floating emojis and other colorful additions to his screen from before. He kept a video of a jumping cat in his background, however.

"Alright, I have it open now. It's asking if I want to sync with my laptop, as it's detecting another account open," Steve reported, before swinging his head back towards his laptop screen and giving a little huff of amusement. "Still wearing the virtual Iron Man helmet, huh? I already know you're the real one."

"I'm making a point, Cap," Tony nodded, gesturing to his head with a flourish, "Unless you miss seeing my face, which I would understand. I'd miss seeing my face too if I didn't see it for 389 days. Or however long it's been."

"In person? 37 days," Steve corrected amiably, "Virtually, we technically saw each other's faces last week on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s app."

"Hey, I got the 3 right! 37, really? Feels a lot longer, and weirdly enough, also shorter. You want to accept that prompt, by the way. Syncing just means it'll detect both cameras and you can choose which one to toggle to at any given time."

"Sounds good, I'll go ahead and accept the sync then. And I do miss your face."

"After that, you want to makes sure your interface shows two screens for you to choose from. Wait," Tony backtracked, disbelief in his tone, "Did you just say you missed my face?"

"I did."

Tony stared silently at Steve for a solid couple of seconds before saying very slowly, "Captain America misses my lovely mug."

Steve lifted his eyebrows in a warm exasperation and let out a little sigh. "Yes, Tony, I do. And the faces of all the other Avengers, too. I miss the team."

"Uh, huh," Tony's voice now had a hint of glee, "Alright, Cap, since you miss my face so much, I will now unveil it for you. Behold!"

And with a hand framing his face, Tony gave a winning perfect-for-a-magazine-cover pose as the virtual Iron Man helmet disappeared.

There was a couple of seconds pause, before Steve let out a snort, and then a laugh.

"Sorry, the cat in your background just swatted at you while you were looking very serious," Steve explained as his laugh died down, his expression open and amiable.

Tony lowered his hand and squinted rather accusingly as his program. "Thwarted by my own creation yet again. Guess the cat video's going."

"It's good to see your face though. Even if I saw it last week already," Steve re-iterated, with a kind smile. After a beat, the man's smile quirked up at the ends as he quipped good-naturedly, "You looked quite majestic before the cat tried to punch you."

"Ha, ha," Tony shook his head as he stressed the syllables. "I'm sure the cat just wanted more Tony Stark in their life."

"Wouldn't be the only one. The world could use more Tony Starks."

At that remark from Steve, Tony stumbled a little. Those words weren't made in jest. No hint of sarcasm anywhere. Steve… really meant that?

"Cap, you've gone mad. I don't think the world's ready for more than one of me," He gave a nervous little chuckle, "Anyways, you see two screens?"

Steve turned his head, eyes roving to a spot off screen before he brought the phone closer to his face. "Yep, I see two, one from the laptop and one from my phone."

"Great, I want you to select the phone screen and then check to make sure the main interface changes screens with you. It might prompt you on audio settings too."

The video frame containing Steve now blinked out and then back on again, this time showing a very close up view of the blond's face.

Tony blinked, a little bubble of air caught in his mouth.

"Tony, did you hear me?"

"Sorry, what?" Tony said with an exhale.

"I was asking if you could hear me alright," Steve asked again patiently, his video frame background shifting as the man seemed to get up from his desk.

"The volume's a bit low. Check to see if your input setting's not defaulting to your laptop mic."

"Ok, let me see," Steve paused, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he adjusted settings only he could see. "Can you hear me better now?"

Tony watched the man quietly from his end. The volume was fine, maybe a little too loud, but Tony found himself shaking his head. "Nope, sorry, Cap."

After the furrow between Cap's eyebrows deepened a little more, Steve brought the phone closer to his face, his face now taking up more of the screen frame. "And now?"

Tony stared at Steve's face, whose blue eyes were looking slightly down to where the man's phone screen would be. So blue, Tony thought, as his eyes traveled the lines down the other man's long eyelashes, to his nose, then his chin. Then mouth. He'd never been this close to see Steve's face like so. "Yeah," he swallowed, tongue suddenly dry, "Yeah, I can hear you now. Perfect level."

Steve's face broke into a warm smile, and Tony's stomach did a flip. His fingers laced together beneath his desk while Tony reminded himself to breathe.

"Great. Thanks again, Tony," Steve's voice was soft, gentle.

"Anytime, Cap," Tony exhaled, his own voice feeling airy.

After Steven had said his goodbyes, and Tony found himself staring at his own face in an empty video chat room, a brief sense of vastness flooded him. A feeling not unlike how a small rocket pulled out of orbit back into the wide expanse of the universe would feel leaving the light of home and greeting the darkness of space.

Tony exited the program and turned to look at his workshop, listening to his various machine's singing in their own hum-like, drone-like tones. He smiled.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., how goes the prototype?" Tony asked aloud.

"Ready for fitting, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S.'s ever present overhead voice replied. "Would you like me to ship the holographic display units to the other Avengers tonight, and set up another meeting with the team for next week?"

Tony stood up, stretched, and smiled a little wider.

"You read my mind, J."


End file.
